Lehmann's stories
Lehmann's Stories is a story by Siegfried Lenz from 1964. It describes the experiences of the black marketeer Lehmann after the end of the Second World War . Lehmann's stories were first broadcast on the radio in loose succession and finally published as a book due to listeners' inquiries.
content
action
The soldier Holger Heinz Lehmann steals a large amount of silver cream spoons in the doom and gloom before the end of the Second World War. With this "start-up capital" he slips almost unintentionally into the Hamburg black market. He soon established his reputation as a jack of all trades on the black market scene. He sells stolen "spirits" to the English occupation troops, slaughters pigs in the bathtub, gets an old memorial to do a sick grandpa a favor and smuggles valuables across the newly created zone border. When he ends up in prison, with the help of his girlfriend, he continues the business from the cell and with his skills as a buyer he gains a high reputation with the prison administration.
Lehmann's career ended abruptly on June 20, 1948, the day of the currency reform . Lehmann's Reichsmark assets suddenly become worthless, and his reputation as a black market specialist is no longer worth anything without the black market.
people
The person of the black marketeer Lehmann is naturally in the foreground. Nothing is known about his life before and during the war, his actual occupation or his relatives. Lehmann is portrayed as a very well-read person who likes to quote from classical works. Except for Lehmann, only his landlady and later girlfriend appear in all chapters.
worldview
In addition to the briefly described black market adventures, the question is raised of what one can do with the skills learned in times of shortage when the times of shortage are over. Necessity makes inventive, laws are of secondary importance in exceptional situations, even for "decent" citizens. But what can you use your creativity for when normal business life and the administration of justice get going again after three years? For Lehmann, three years of "professional experience" and his crazy business methods have become useless.
shape
The six chapters in the book likely correspond to the six aired episodes.
Classification in the work of the author
Siegfried Lenz said he was involved in black market deals himself. It can therefore be assumed that the book has some autobiographical features. The first-person form of the book and Lehmann's intellectual background also point to this.
filming
"Lehmanns Erzählungen" was filmed by Wolfgang Staudte and broadcast in 1975 on ZDF. The main roles were played by Otto Sander , Anne-Marie Kuster and Christa Berndl .
Text output
"Lehmann's stories" or "My market was so beautiful", Hamburg 1964 (Hoffmann and Campe), ISBN 3-455-04224-4